Hyun-Jin Ryu not only was effective on the mound, he sparked a two-out rally that ultimately propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-3 victory and sweep of the San Diego Padres during Players’ Weekend. Justin Turner tied a career high with five RBI.
It marked their first series sweep since doing so against the Pittsburgh Pirates from July 2-4 at Dodger Stadium. Moreover, the Dodgers kept pace with the Arizona Diamondbacks and closed the gap on the Colorado Rockies in the National League West standings.
Robbie Erlin carried a shutout into the fourth inning and was one out away from sending the game to the sixth with the Padres leading 2-0, but allowed a single to Ryu. It was Ryu’s second hit of the day, as he improved to 2-for-2 while the rest of the Dodgers were 2-for-16 at that point.
Brian Dozier kept the inning alive by working a walk, and Turner followed with a game-tying two-run double. Manny Machado then added to Erlin’s troubles by lining a go-ahead two-run homer down the left-field line.
The home run was Machado’s 31st this season and second in as many games. Singles by Matt Kemp and Kiké Hernandez made it six consecutive batters to reach for the Dodgers with two outs, and knocked Erlin out of the game.
Phil Maton walked Chris Taylor to load the bases but escaped the jam by striking out Yasiel Puig. Turner provided insurance with a two-run single in the sixth and for good measure he tacked on a run-scoring double in the eighth inning.
Ryu was removed with two outs in the sixth inning and responsible for runners on first and second base. Pedro Baez needed one pitch to get the third out and close the book on Ryu. He finished with two runs allowed on 11 hits, while collecting eight strikeouts against one walk.
The early innings saw a bit of an unusual circumstance as he had seven strikeouts through three frames but was facing a 2-0 deficit because of a home run allowed to Franmil Reyes and Hunter Renfroe’s RBI single.
Before sparking the Dodgers’ rally, Ryu kept them in the game by stranding the bases loaded in the top of the fifth.
Turner’s two-run base hit made matters not quite as stressful for Dylan Floro in his second inning of work. He allowed a pair of singles to start the eighth but got out of the jam on a force out and back-to-back strikeouts.
